Appointment with Yesterday

A classic seaside psychological thriller from author of Waterstones Thriller of the Month, Uncle Paul: 'Britain's Patricia Highsmith' and the 'grandmother of psycho-domestic noir' (Sunday Times)





'Brilliant ... So witty and clever.' Elly Griffiths

'Fremlin packs a punch.' Ian Rankin

'Splendid ... Got me hooked.' Ruth Rendell

'A master of suspense.' Janice Hallett

FOUND IN FLAT was all she could see of the headline, but it was enough: enough to freeze her hovering hand ...



Milly Barnes has just arrived in the seaside town of Seacliffe. Between windswept walks on the beach, she settles into lodgings and finds work as a Daily Help. Except this isn't her real name - 'Milly' is on the run from her past life, escaping a nightmare marriage.



Abandoned by her first husband for another woman, she took revenge by marrying Gilbert: but this proved a terrible mistake. Trapped in a London basement flat, she became a victim of his increasingly paranoid delusions. But what really happened in that underground dungeon? And is somebody on her trail, the hunter in a game of cat-and-mouse ...?



CELIA FREMLIN (1914-2009) was born in Kent and spent her childhood in Hertfordshire. She then studied at the University of Oxford whilst working as a charwoman. During the Second World War, she served as an air-raid warden before becoming involved with the Mass Observation Project, collaborating on a study of women workers, War Factory. In 1942 she married Elia Goller, moved to Hampstead and had three children. In 1968, their youngest daughter, aged nineteen, took her own life; a month later, her husband did the same. In the wake of these tragedies, Fremlin briefly relocated to Geneva. In 1985, she married Leslie Minchin, with whom she lived until his death in 1999. Over four decades, Fremlin wrote sixteen celebrated novels - including the classic seaside mystery Uncle Paul and Christmas noir The Long Shadow - as well as one book of poetry and three story collections. Her debut, The Hours Before Dawn, won the Edgar Award in 1960.